Johnnie Jackson emphasised the importance of his AFC Wimbledon players being ready to step up to the mark after seeing his side lose 1-0 away at Eastbourne Borough.
The Dons largely struggled to get going in the south coast heat and in the end were undone eight minutes from time as Chris Whelpdale headed home the winner for Boro – inflicting our first pre-season defeat of the campaign.
Nevertheless the game itself gave our manager the chance to take a closer look at not only his senior pros, but also our under-18s and trialists, with there being numerous substitutions throughout the 90 minutes.
“It’s important that the players are ready to come in and fill those positions,” said Johnnie. “The squad’s not huge. There are places up for grabs and there will be people coming in the door which means more competition for places.”
Despite the result not being ideal, Johnnie did feel that he was starting to see his players taking on some of the instructions from the training ground and putting them into practice on the field of play.
“The players are starting to implement some of the stuff that I’m asking from them. There’s more to come from everyone in this group.
“It’s always disappointing when you don’t win a game. But the main things that we wanted from the game have been fulfilled. We wanted to get some minutes in legs and everyone’s come through unscathed.”
Next up for Wimbledon is a trip to Farnborough on Tuesday night (7.15pm kick-off). You can buy tickets online for this match.
PIC: Lucy Dixon